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PNS Daily Newscast - May 24, 2019

President Trump's reported to be ready to sign disaster relief bill without money for border security. Also on the Friday rundown: House bills would give millions a path to citizenship; and remembering California’s second-deadliest disaster.

Will Compromise Come on Federal Prison Sentencing Reform?

Groups say about 2,600 people behind bars in federal prisons could have a shot at re-sentencing if Congress passes the First Step Act. (lchigo/Pixabay)

December 5, 2018

COLUMBUS, Ohio - People languishing in federal prison for decades on nonviolent drug convictions may get a new chance at justice if the U.S. Senate finds the political will to pass sentencing reform in the final weeks of the lame-duck session.

Groups on both left and right on the political spectrum support the First Step Act, a series of measures to give judges more freedom to get around harsh sentencing laws first passed in the 1980s and '90s. Kara Gotsch, director of strategic initiatives for The Sentencing Project, said the bill would take the existing reforms that fixed the gulf between sentences for trafficking crack versus powder cocaine and make them retroactive.

"It would impact about 2,600 people who are still in prison," she said. "It would give them an opportunity to petition to a judge for re-sentencing."

President Donald Trump has expressed support for the bill, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has yet to schedule a vote.

The United States now has 2.6 million people behind bars, but these reforms only would affect the 181,000 in federal prisons. The First Step Act also would add a "safety valve" that lets judges get around mandatory minimum sentences for certain low-level, nonviolent drug cases.

Gotsch said many states are taking sentencing reform into their own hands.

"States across the country have passed mandatory minimum sentencing reform and seen impressive results of not only reducing their prison population but also seeing a reduction in crime," she said, " because it allows government and communities to reinvest their dollars in other ways that help to protect and secure communities."

Ohio voters failed to pass Issue 1 in November, which aimed to keep low-level drug offenders out of prison. However, by the start of next year's legislative session, members of the Ohio Senate expect to have more details of a bill filed this week aimed at reducing the state's prison population.